Determining Weather?

[VAF [136] Striker]

I started working with LASTE and I need to know how to determine weather without having to open the file in the mission builder. Some mission builders give specific weather information in the briefing but what do you do if it's not there? Is there something in the map that can tell you the necessary information to input into the LASTE settings?

[Skall]

The LASTE screen itself displays the temperature, wind direction and wind speed for your current altitude. Sometimes I keep the LASTE screen on and take note of the values as I'm running down the runway to get "ground level" data, then I take note at 1000ft, 2000ft, 6000ft and my highest altitude. I then throw those values into the LASTE screen. It would be nice if there were an LSK that just plugged in the current values for you as felt by the aircraft sensors.

 

Its nice taking the values directly from the LASTE screen since you don't have to do the math based on the ME values (wind direction - 187, feet to meters + magical invisible layer at 1500 feet AGL with double the wind speed). Plus with dynamic weather, you can get values relevant to your area of operation.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Skall

[VAF [136] Striker]

Thank you very much for pointing that out to me. I feel kind of dumb that I didn't see that it was displaying the current direction/speed/temp all right there in the LASTE screen like you said. I guess it's easy to oversee stuff some times. Anyhow, it works great and yes that will help a ton in the future and especially with dynamic weather in effect.

[Skall]

Don't worry, I only learned that a few months ago and I've been flying the A-10 on and off for a while. It also doesn't help that the current winds and temps don't show unless the plane is in motion. If you are on the ground playing with the CDU, you never get to see the current values.

[NeilWillis]

Isn't that because the figures are calculated by the discrepancy in the flight path being converted into the wind speed and direction by the navigation computer?

[Skall]

Don't know how the magic happens. All I know is the wizards are asleep when the plane is not moving.

[VAF [136] Striker]

Isn't that because the figures are calculated by the discrepancy in the flight path being converted into the wind speed and direction by the navigation computer?

That would make sense but I'm assuming that it's the most accurate way to determine it anyhow since the on-board computer calculates everything based on aircraft sensors and GPS information. Probably a lot more accurate then any other data available.